European Championship 470ER Mixed: The wave of success rolls on - silver for Diesch/Markfort
Tatjana Pokorny
· 20.05.2023
Germany's best 470 mixed crews remain the guarantors of success for the national sailing team. Once again, a crew from the German Sailing Team has sailed to the podium in a major series of titles. Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort won European Championship silver in the Italian waters off Sanremo. They narrowly missed out on the title, just one point behind the new Swedish European champions Anton Dahlberg and Lovis Karlsson.
On the podium with consistency and constancy
With a two-point lead, the helmsman from the Württembergischer Yacht-Club and his fore-sailor from the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club were able to keep France's Hippolyte Machetti and Aloïse Retornaz at bay until the end of the series. With four race wins in eleven races, a high level of consistency and second place before the medal race on the final Saturday, Diesch/Markfort had put themselves in an excellent starting position for the showdown.
In the double scored medal race, 28-year-old Simon Diesch and 29-year-old Anna Markfort defended their second place overall. The final was exciting in shifting winds of around ten knots. "We were all rather 'underpowered' in terms of trim because the wind quickly dropped from 14 or 15 knots to eleven knots after the start. All the teams had to struggle with that ...", reported Anna Markfort. Diesch/Markfort turned an initial ninth place into sixth place at the finish after a successful race to catch up in the medal race. However, because their Swedish rivals crossed the line in seventh place, the GER crew just missed out on the title.
After the Semaine Olympique in Hyères, we told ourselves that now was the time to win a medal" (Anna Markfort)
"We are happy with silver, even if the one point to gold in the end hurts a little, of course," said Anna Markfort. She cited her crew's ability to concentrate and speed as the key to their success at the European Championships: "We had resolved to always fight to the end. We managed that well. We are also fast on the cross, but also downwind."
The European Championship runners-up will take away from these title fights the good certainty of being able to operate reliably among the world's best: "We have now been regularly in the top five over three events. These are the qualifying regattas on course for the Olympics next year and certainly an important point for us," says Markfort.
Junior squad crew Löffler/Hoerr sail into the limelight
Against the backdrop of the Ligurian harbour town of Sanremo, Theresa Löffler and Christopher Hoerr (Deutscher Touring Yacht-Club/SCBC) also performed remarkably well: the 23-year-old helmswoman from Holzkirchen and her 25-year-old coxswain from Röthenbach had opened the European Championship brilliantly with two race wins as front runners after day one. At the end of the main round, the junior squad crew had only just missed out on a place in the medal race in eleventh place.
Malte and Anastasiya Winkel (Schweriner Yacht-Club/Norddeutscher Regatta Verein) finished the series in 15th place, one place behind the reigning 470 Mixed World Champions Luise Wanser and Philipp Autenrieth (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein/Bayerischer Yacht-Club) in 16th place and Theres Danke and Matti Cipra (Plauer WSV) in 18th place.
I wouldn't swap this group for any other group in the world" (Steve Lovegrove)
The 470 mixed duos of the national sailing team have been involved in the battle for podium places at all major regattas since 2022, regularly winning medals. At the 2022 World Championships, Luise Wanser and Philipp Autenrieth heralded the new German 470 wave with a celebrated gold medal. In the national battle for just one ticket to the Olympic test regatta this summer, Malte and Anastasiya Winkel recently prevailed against their team-mates and competitors. Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort have now shone at the current European Championships.
"Their intensity and accuracy were crucial this week. Simon and Anna have worked hard on that recently," said DSV coach Steve Lovegrove, paying tribute to the crew. The Brit has high regard for his German 470 mixed training group: "We have four or five talented crews in the group. I wouldn't swap them for any other group in the world. The group has such depth, each crew has its own individual strengths. It's great fun to work with this group at such a high level."
Great teams work together successfully as equals under the direction of DSV coach Steve Lovegrove and with the support of Marek Chocian" (Nadine Stegenwalner)
"The national sailing team is impressively well organised in the 470 Mixed. Great teams are working together successfully as equals under the direction of DSV coach Steve Lovegrove and with the support of Marek Chocian. This puts our crews from the German Sailing Team at a very high level overall and in a strong starting position for the 2024 Olympic goal," said DSV Sports Director Nadine Stegenwalner.
